Insurance claim cannot be denied on basis that column on insurance form was left blank: NCDRC

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has held that leaving a column blank in the insurance proposal form does not amount to giving a false answer and an insurance company cannot deny a claim on this ground [Chhoti Devi v Bharti Axa Life Insurance Co Ltd and Ors]. .The order was passed by a coram of Dr Inderjit Singh and Dr Sudhir Kumar Jain.“On perusal of the relevant portion of the proposal form, reproduced above, we see merit in the contentions of the Appellant(s) herein and agree with their reasoning that leaving a column blank in the proposal form does not amount to giving the false answer and had this information being material, the Insurance Company ought to have insisted on getting these columns filled before issuing the policy,” the NCDRC said. .It rendered these findings while dealing with a plea filed by one Chhoti Devi (now deceased), challenging an order of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) upholding the insurance company Bharti AXA’s denial of claim to her. Devi’s son had bought a life insurance policy of ₹25 lakh (20 years, premium ₹10,900) on December 12, 2015. He died of a heart attack in January 2017. The claim was repudiated by Bharti AXA, alleging concealment of existing policies in the proposal form.However, Devi’s legal heirs argued that the form was filled in English digitally by the company’s agent and the column about whether the insured had any existing policies was left blank. It was further stated that Bharti AXA itself had issued three policies to him and, therefore, the company already knew about them. .After considering the case, the NCDRC ruled that there was no wilful intention on the part of the insured to conceal any material information by leaving the column blank. “Moreover, it is seen that entire form is type filled, and in all probability, has been filled either by an official or agent of the Insurance Company, and not by the deceased insured himself. Hence, they ought to have filled all columns, including the questions on existing/proposed insurance rather than leaving these blank,” it added. Therefore, the NCDRC set aside the SCDRC order and directed the insurance company to pay the sum assured within 45 days with an interest of 9% per annum from the date of filing of the claim. .Advocates Ankit Acharya and Ritu Chaudhary appeared for Chhoti Devi and her legal heirs. Advocate Aakash Vashishta represented Bharti AXA. .[Read Order]